# CVE-2021-47449: ice: fix locking for Tx timestamp tracking flush

> A locking error in the Intel ice network driver can cause a deadlock during device removal, leading to a system hang or denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47449, GHSA-8g8j-p6r7-xj34, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47449

## What is CVE-2021-47449?

CVE-2021-47449 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ice: fix locking for Tx timestamp tracking flush

Commit 4dd0d5c33c3e ("ice: add lock around Tx timestamp tracker flush")
added a lock around the Tx timestamp tracker flow which is used to
cleanup any left over SKBs and prepare for device removal.

This lock is problematic because it is being held around a call to
ice_clear_phy_tstamp. The clear function takes a mutex to send a PHY
write command to firmware. This could lead to a deadlock if the mutex
actually sleeps, and causes the following warning on a kernel with
preemption debugging enabled:

[  715.419426] BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:573
[  715.427900] in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 3100, name: rmmod
[  715.435652] INFO: lockdep is turned off.
[  715.439591] Preemption disabled at:
[  715.439594] [<0000000000000000>] 0x0
[  715.446678] CPU: 52 PID: 3100 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G        W  OE     5.15.0-rc4+ #42 bdd7ec3018e725f159ca0d372ce8c2c0e784891c
[  715.458058] Hardware name: Intel Corporation S2600STQ/S2600STQ, BIOS SE5C620.86B.02.01.0010.010620200716 01/06/2020
[  715.468483] Call Trace:
[  715.470940]  dump_stack_lvl+0x6a/0x9a
[  715.474613]  ___might_sleep.cold+0x224/0x26a
[  715.478895]  __mutex_lock+0xb3/0x1440
[  715.482569]  ? stack_depot_save+0x378/0x500
[  715.486763]  ? ice_sq_send_cmd+0x78/0x14c0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.494979]  ? kfree+0xc1/0x520
[  715.498128]  ? mutex_lock_io_nested+0x12a0/0x12a0
[  715.502837]  ? kasan_set_free_info+0x20/0x30
[  715.507110]  ? __kasan_slab_free+0x10b/0x140
[  715.511385]  ? slab_free_freelist_hook+0xc7/0x220
[  715.516092]  ? kfree+0xc1/0x520
[  715.519235]  ? ice_deinit_lag+0x16c/0x220 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.527359]  ? ice_remove+0x1cf/0x6a0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.535133]  ? pci_device_remove+0xab/0x1d0
[  715.539318]  ? __device_release_driver+0x35b/0x690
[  715.544110]  ? driver_detach+0x214/0x2f0
[  715.548035]  ? bus_remove_driver+0x11d/0x2f0
[  715.552309]  ? pci_unregister_driver+0x26/0x250
[  715.556840]  ? ice_module_exit+0xc/0x2f [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.564799]  ? __do_sys_delete_module.constprop.0+0x2d8/0x4e0
[  715.570554]  ? do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
[  715.574303]  ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
[  715.579529]  ? start_flush_work+0x542/0x8f0
[  715.583719]  ? ice_sq_send_cmd+0x78/0x14c0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.591923]  ice_sq_send_cmd+0x78/0x14c0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.599960]  ? wait_for_completion_io+0x250/0x250
[  715.604662]  ? lock_acquire+0x196/0x200
[  715.608504]  ? do_raw_spin_trylock+0xa5/0x160
[  715.612864]  ice_sbq_rw_reg+0x1e6/0x2f0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.620813]  ? ice_reset+0x130/0x130 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.628497]  ? __debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x1e8/0x3c0
[  715.633550]  ? trace_hardirqs_on+0x1c/0x130
[  715.637748]  ice_write_phy_reg_e810+0x70/0xf0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.646220]  ? do_raw_spin_trylock+0xa5/0x160
[  715.650581]  ? ice_ptp_release+0x910/0x910 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.658797]  ? ice_ptp_release+0x255/0x910 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.667013]  ice_clear_phy_tstamp+0x2c/0x110 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.675403]  ice_ptp_release+0x408/0x910 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.683440]  ice_remove+0x560/0x6a0 [ice 9a7e1ec00971c89ecd3fe0d4dc7da2b3786a421d]
[  715.691037]  ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x46/0x73
[  715.696005]  pci_device_remove+0xab/0x1d0
[  715.700018]  __device_release_driver+0x35b/0x690
[  715.704637]  driver_detach+0x214/0x2f0
[  715.708389]  bus_remove_driver+0x11d/0x2f0
[  715.712489]  pci_unregister_driver+0x26/0x250
[  71
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-129 (Improper Validation of Array Index)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47449?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47449?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47449 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47449 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-47449 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47449 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47449 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47449/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47449/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47449
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47449
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47449

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47449/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
